PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Jerry Ma

Jerry Ma is an AI researcher and policy executive who built Go and protein models in Silicon Valley before becoming the first chief AI officer of the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Raised in West Lafayette, Indiana, he graduated from Harvard with a major in economics and coauthored two 2019 papers: one on quasi-hyperbolic momentum for deep learning, and one on ELF OpenGo, an open-source AlphaZero reimplementation that went 20:0 against top Go professionals. His protein work includes a 2020 energy-based model of atomic-scale protein conformations and the first AI language model trained on the universe of known protein sequences. At the USPTO, which he joined in October 2020, he led the development of AI tools for patent examiners and won a Service to America Medal in 2024. He left the agency in May 2025 and is vice president of policy and global affairs at Perplexity AI.

Badges

Timeline

  1. 2019

    Harvard, Quora and QHAdam

    His family emigrates from China when he is very young, and he grows up in West Lafayette, Indiana. He graduates from Harvard with a major in economics and spends a year at Quora as a machine learning engineer and technical lead of its machine learning group. With Denis Yarats, he proposes quasi-hyperbolic momentum (QHM) and QHAdam, simple variants of momentum SGD and Adam, published at ICLR 2019.

  2. 2019

    ELF OpenGo against professionals

    In 2019, he coauthors ELF OpenGo with Yuandong Tian and colleagues, an open-source reimplementation of AlphaZero published at ICML 2019. The system posts a perfect 20:0 record against top professional Go players, and he leads its development as the first open-source champion-level Go bot.

  3. 2020

    Protein language and energy models

    He spends a year at Meta as a staff research engineer and engineering manager at Facebook AI Research. In 2020, he coauthors an atomic-scale energy-based model of protein conformations with Yilun Du, Joshua Meier, Rob Fergus and Alexander Rives, trained solely on crystallized protein data and presented at ICLR 2020. Before joining the USPTO in 2020, he leads development of the first AI language model trained on the universe of known protein sequences.

  4. October 2020

    Chief AI officer at the USPTO

    He joins the US Patent and Trademark Office in October 2020, where he serves as director of emerging technology and as its first chief AI officer. He leads the development of AI tools for more than 9,000 patent examiners, including an AI-powered search, and co-chairs the agency's AI and Emerging Technology Working Group. On detail to the Office of the Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust, he helps shape the Antitrust Division's approach to AI and digital platforms.

  5. February 2024

    Guidance on AI-assisted inventions

    He works with the USPTO director and other leaders to shape the agency's approach to AI's role in intellectual property. In February 2024, the USPTO announces guidance requiring meaningful human contributions to inventions for which people seek patents.

  6. September 2024

    A Service to America Medal

    In September 2024, he wins the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal as a 2024 Emerging Leaders winner, honoring his work advancing AI tools in patent examination and shaping USPTO policy on AI. He is the first USPTO employee to receive the medal.

  7. May 2025

    Leaving the USPTO

    In May 2025, he announces that he is stepping down as the USPTO's chief AI officer and director of emerging technology after four and a half years in the dual role. He heads back to the private sector, saying he is excited to advance AI innovation in a new capacity.

  8. As of October 2026

    Global affairs at Perplexity

    He is vice president of policy and global affairs at Perplexity AI, where he works with government, civil society and industry. He also sits on the company's technical leadership team, shaping technical strategy and core research and development.

Career

  1. NowPerplexityVice President of Policy and Global Affairs; member of the technical leadership team
  2. 2020FAIR (Meta)Staff research engineer and engineering manager
  3. From 2020United States Department of CommerceDirector of Emerging Technology and Chief AI Officer
  4. 2019QuoraMachine learning engineer and technical lead of its machine learning group
  5. Office of the Assistant Attorney General for AntitrustOn detail

Education

  1. 2019Harvard University

From the biography.

  1. 16% of AI career moves in the 2020s went from a university to a companyIncludes Jerry Ma. We estimate that 16% of AI career moves in the 2020s went from a university to a company; 29% of moves starting at a university went to a company, and 76% ended the university role.
  2. Of 216 AI researchers who entered public life, 83 held advisory seats and 58 took public rolesIncludes Jerry Ma. Of 216 AI researchers who entered public life, 83 held advisory seats and 58 took public roles. Another 97 people moved from public careers into AI organizations or research, with 62% of dated records starting from 2020 on.
  3. Among employers with 30+ full-time cases, OpenAI leads primary technical role H-1B pay at $310,000, and Amazon, Google and Microsoft file 57% of all casesIncludes Perplexity. Across 440,669 certified US H-1B filings from 44 employers (FY2020–FY2026), OpenAI leads primary technical role base pay at $310,000 and xAI leads overall base pay at $290,000.
  4. Google alumni have founded or led 133 other organizations, more than any other AI labIncludes Perplexity. We estimate that alumni of 17 major AI labs went on to found or lead 350 other organizations, including 226 they founded, and we trace 472 career moves directly between 23 labs since 2010.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Jerry Ma yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Jerry Ma honored with prestigious Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal® for excellence incorporating artificial intelligence at the USPTO uspto.gov. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. Jerry Ma to Resign as USPTO Chief AI Officer, Emerging Tech Director executivegov.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. [1810.06801] Quasi-hyperbolic momentum and Adam for deep learning arxiv.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. [1902.04522] ELF OpenGo: An Analysis and Open Reimplementation of AlphaZero arxiv.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. [2004.13167] Energy-based models for atomic-resolution protein conformations arxiv.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. USPTO CAIO, Emerging Tech Director Stepping Down meritalk.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  7. Bio: Jerry Ma | The Sedona Conference thesedonaconference.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  8. Jerry Ma • Service to America Medals servicetoamericamedals.org. Checked 20 October 2026.